NERVE

Four former psychiatric patients in New York and Vienna give moving personal accounts
of their personal crises and the nature of their psychiatric treatment, including their
experiences with therapy, institutionalization, and medication. Their stories make it clear
that psychiatric intervention is often designed to enale society to distance itself from this
problem, instead of offering real help and understanding. By confronting their experiences,
these former patients have opened their own path to recovery, overcoming a previous
sense of isolation and despair. They point towards the kinds of changes the medical
profession and society at large must adopt in order to achieve more humane treatment and
acceptance of those who experience psychiatric symptoms and crises. The video also
shows how psychiatric patients worldwide have today organized self-help groups and
independent agencies to confront the professional medical abuse and social ostracism they
continue to suffer.